Saturday's Poem

I am slowly working my way through Scott Cairns book of poems, Compass of Affection. He is a Christian who weaves his faith into his poems subtly much of the time and sometimes more directly. I wanted to share a few stanzas from his poem, "Possible Answers to Prayer," (91) which I read this past week and found the ending very bracing. Take a moment and meditate on it.

Your petitions--though they continue to bear
just the one signature--have been duly recorded.
your anxieties--despite their constant,

relatively narrow scope and inadvertent
entertainment value--nonetheless serve
to bring your person vividly to mind.

....

Your angers, your zeal, your lipsmackingly
righteous indignation toward the many
whose habits and sympathies offend you--

these must burn away before you'll apprehend
how near I am, with what fervor I adore
precisely these, the several who rouse your passion.